Tokyo Ghoul: Crisis
by KV1789
Summary: In a world struggling to accept ghouls into its society, Hideyoshi Nagachika's quest to watch over his best friend sucks him deep into the affairs of the human-ghoul underworld. Will he survive with his humanity and sanity intact? And will Kaneki recover himself? An AU which will diverge from canon.
1. Prologue: The Breakout

**WARNING! PLEASE READ:**

This story does not completely follow the Tokyo Ghoul storyline.

* * *

**Unknown Location, Unknown Time**

'_It was just supposed to be a date...no harm in getting to know a girl who liked the same books you did, right? But why did she have to be a BLOODTHIRSTY GHOUL?! Whyyyy?!' _Kaneki mentally reprimanded himself. He and his best friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika, were just discussing the recent news on ghoul attacks in the world's most populated city, Tokyo, Japan, when the irony struck. His crush ended up ambushing him and got crushed by the coincidental falling of several steel beams. He fell unconscious thanks to blood loss, and now he was possibly bleeding to death...alone...in a construction site.

_'Oh God...what did I do to deserve this...?' _He questioned again. While he was mentally lamenting his supposed fate, he heard a horrifyingly familiar whisper that was getting louder as it repeated his name.

_"Kanekiii..."_ It cooed.

_'Uhhnn...huh? Wh-Wh-Who's there?''_ He asked, frightened.

_"Kaneki-kuuuun...WAKE UP!"_

The voice screamed into his ear, forcing Kaneki to jolt his eyes open due to the shrillness of it. He was then greeted with the feeling of intense pain all over his body. It didn't help that his head felt like mush. Looking around without moving his head, he saw an IV tube and a heart monitor on his left. On his right there was a set of cameras and an observation window stained with blood on it. He realized that he was on an operating table when he felt cold plastic on his back.

_'Am I...in a hospital? What...happened...to me?'_ He thought to himself. He was surprised to hear the voice answer.

_"Because I attacked you."_

He looked around wildly. There was someone speaking to him, and "she" sounded very close yet he couldn't see anyone except himself in the "operating room."

_"Over heeere." _It said in a playful tone.

He turned to where the voice seemed to have came from. He then saw a familiar girl with purple hair in place of his reflection in a mirror.

"R-Rize?!" He weakly exclaimed in shock and fear.

_"Hello again, Kaneki-kun. Although, I'm not actually her..."_

"W-What do you mean?"

"She" giggled.

_"You might have so many questions for me I assume...but please forgive me 'cause I won't be able to answer most of them..."_

Kaneki closed his eyes and shook his head. There was a strong sting of pain after "she" answered him. He looked back at the mirror and saw her standing up instead of sitting on the operating table.

_"...however, I am here because I must guide you."_

"Guide..me?"

_"I must guide you in escaping this place. The people here have done some things unspeakably horrible to many ghouls and humans alike. YOU are their latest project."_

Kaneki couldn't believe a single word "she" said. Everything felt so woozy and bizarre that it seemed like it was some sort of really vivid nightmare.

"Project? What...are you talking about?"

_"Every journey begins with a single step, Kaneki-kun. Let's start with securing the key."_

Kaneki was about ask "Rize" what she meant, but she disappeared and all he could see was his own reflection again. But then he saw his eye. His pupil was completely red and his sclera was all black.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He fell back upon seeing this and landed on the floor, narrowly missing the the heart monitor. He took hold of the operating table and struggled as he pulled himself up. Afterwards, he saw that his arm was bleeding since the IV needle was violently pulled off by the fall.

"Oh _God_...I need to wrap this up."

Clutching his wound, Kaneki groggily made his way to the nearest medical locker. He opened it only to find a single bandage roll.

"Agh! Damn...I guess this'll do..."

He wrapped the wound up as tightly as he could. Eventually, "Rize's" voice suddenly spoke up as if she was whispering closely to both of his ears.

_"Hurry up, Kaneki-kun..."_ "Her" playful tone still there.

He immediately went to the door near the observation window. He entered the room and saw that there was blood splattered nearly everywhere. He almost threw up as he pushed open the blood-stained door to exit it. The hallways were dimly illuminated by emergency backup lights at each corner and the eerie red flashes of an alarm light.

"RED ALERT! RED ALERT! POWER FAILURE! ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE THE FACILITY IMMEDIATELY! THE CONTAINMENT WARD DOORS HAVE FAILED TO CLOSE! EVACUATE NOW!" A loudspeaker announced he passed by.

_'Containment ward? What the hell is this place?!'_

Kaneki limped quickly to the end of the hallway. Entering a locker room, he found a blood-stained lab coat hanging from one of the coat hangers and in its pocket was a red keycard.

_'Is this the "key"?'_ He thought. Then "Rize's" voice suddenly answered.

_"Good work...now we must ascend from darkness."_

_'Ascend...from darkness?'_

_"You must find a way to escape this place."_

Kaneki took a shirt from the locker as he was only topless. The only thing he was wearing was the same pants from his "date" before. Putting the keycard in his pocket, he exited the room and walked through the blood-stained hallways littered with the mutilated bodies of what he presumed to be scientists. There were many other vault-like doors labeled 'LAB 01' and such. Keeping his composure and trying not to vomit, he reached an elevator. A slot for the keycard was on the right, so he took it from his pocket and slid it in.

"SECURITY LEVEL 5 KEYCARD CLEARED. PLEASE ENTER." The intercom announced.

Kaneki entered the elevator. It also was stained with blood, albeit lesser than the hallways. He pushed the button for the first floor. Looking at the buttons, apparently he was on the fifth level. Afterwards he looked at himself in the mirror. He checked his left eye. It was perfectly normal.

_'Weird...I swear it looked...black and red earlier.'_ He thought.

The ambience of the elevator was a sharp contrast to what he saw earlier. It was comforting, except for the small bloodstains on the floor. He wished that he could just stay in there and wait for rescue, but that was not the case now. He needed to get out of this place to end this nightmare.

Eventually, the doors opened but the sight he was greeted to was mortifying. There were many disfigured "things" scattered around what used to be a lobby, dead or dying. They barely looked human with many metal restraints hanging of their arms and legs. They were so horrifying that he couldn't describe their appearance or accept if those were formerly human.

"Oh...oh my God...I can't hold it in..."

Kaneki finally threw up.

_"You see them. They were the previous projects of the people who you saw in the hallways down there."_ "Rize's" voice said suddenly as he was emptying whatever remained in his stomach in the elevator.

"How...how did you know that?"

_"I'm sorry, Kaneki-kuuun. I can't tell youu...but I can tell you how you can get out of here."_

"O-Okay then..." He said. In a nightmare like this, was there anything else he could do?

_"You see that blueprint over there? Near the corridor on your left? Take it."_

Sure enough, there was a blueprint on his left, near a corridor. It seemed to have been conveniently left there by maintenance. Upon opening it, "Rize's" voice chimed in again.

_"Now, do you see the gate control room?"_

"Yeah... It says here that it's right near this corridor."

_"Go there."_

Doing as told, since he had no idea what to do, Kaneki drowsily traversed the corridor. Stepping bodies and passing by a wrecked sentry gun, he walked and walked until he reached a door that said: RESTRICTED AREA. It was ajar, so he pushed it open. There were lesser blood and bodies in the area, but it was filled with many pipes and valves. Going down a few steps, he glanced at the blueprint and saw that the gate control room was on the corridor on his right.

"Okay. So it's over-ooooof!"

Something or someone bumped into him at full speed. After picking himself up he saw that it was a dark-haired girl wearing a patient's gown who bumped into him. She was still on the floor, but it was very dim so he couldn't make out any discerning details about her.

_"Hurry Kaneki. We don't have much time."_

At that moment he heard another alarm.

"ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE. THE FACILITY WILL BE SUBJECT TO CLEANUP."

He finally reached the door which said "GATE CONTROL ROOM." He opened the door and saw some monitors showing different gate areas in the facility.

_"Good. Now we're here, it is time to initiate Step Three."_

"Step Three?" Kaneki asked.

_"Look at the those monitors on the left. What do you see?"_

Kaneki looked at the left monitors and saw a lot of military vehicles and soldiers right outside the main security gate. There were also a horde of those 'things' grouped at the gate, and the soldiers were shooting at them.

"I see...soldiers, and those things..."

_"Now, I want you to open all the gates."_

Kaneki's eyes widened in shock. "What?! All of those things will get out!"

_"That's Step Three. Unleash the horde."_

"That'll kill all of them! Why would I do that?!"

_"Just do as I say Kaneki! You'll thank me later."_

Kaneki pushed all the buttons. All the gates immediately opened, releasing the creatures from their captivity. Nearly all of them were being gunned down by the soldiers.

_"Very good, Kaneki-kun. Let's get out of here."_

Kaneki left the room and went further down the corridor. The blueprint showed an air vent that led directly outside. After putting down the blueprint, he pulled out the vent cover and crawled in. It had enough room for him so he managed to crawl very easily. He managed to reach the outer exit after a while. He pushed the outer cover and pulled himself out.

The soldiers were all wearing black battle dress uniforms and balaclavas, preventing Kaneki from identifying who they were aligned with. Their tanks, APCs and trucks were also black, with no markings. He crouched and snuck away from them as they were busy shooting down all of the 'things' which tried to get out. He wondered why soldiers were involved in this nightmare.

_"You see. They're all so busy killing them that they don't even notice you."_ "Rize" told him.

_"Now we have achieved the final Step..."_

"The final step?"

_"Freedom."_

Kaneki looked back, due to the feeling that someone was following him. All he saw was the soldiers still shooting at the last of the creatures. The voice did not say anything else.

_'Please tell me this is over...'_

No response. Kaneki started losing consciousness again...

_'When is this going to end?!'_

Kaneki fainted. He didn't know, that after this day, his life would change forever...


	2. A Shaky Start

**Four days after...**

"Kaneki? You feeling alright, buddy?" Hide asked his best friend. Kaneki was just released from the hospital the previous day after a life-saving surgery. He was told that during his friend's date with that girl he liked, a load of pipes fell and crushed them both. Kaneki was the only survivor.

"Ehhhh...yeah. Never better..." Kaneki said. It was clear to the blonde haired boy that Kaneki was obviously still recovering.

_"That was a stupid question! Why did I ask that?" _Hide mentally scolded himself.

"Why don't we head over to Big Girl? You look like you could use some REAL food! Not some IV fluid that just barely keeps ya alive," he asked hi friend again.

"O-ok. I am feeling a tad bit hungry."

"Alright!"

Hide hailed a taxi to take them to Big Girl Restaurant. Just as the taxi stopped, a blue armored car sped past them.

* * *

_"Kaneki sure has been acting weird. It almost looked like he didn't want to eat those burgers we ordered," _he thought as he walked home. Vomiting in the middle of eating...was that normal after having an operation?

_"I'm no doctor...but then again... Oh Kaneki. I hope he gets well real soon."_

* * *

**Chiyoda, Tokyo **

"It appears that the program is going quite well, General," the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission said as he read a paper listing down the number of ghouls who have come forward to participate in the "Societal Reintegration Program" brought about by the Ghoul Rights Treaty of 2001. The treaty entails the countries of the world to give equal treatment to ghouls and humans. The enforcement of the treaty is overseen by the Ghoul Rights Council and performed by an international, UN-affiliated law enforcement organization called the Ghoul Pacification Task Force. They are a supplemental organization to the police and military which specializes in dealings with ghouls. Japan, being one of the countries that agreed to the treaty despite the Counter-Ghoul Commission's protests, had the two organizations work together. Unfortunately, the GPTF have a strict, no-killing policy as they are trying to prove to the ghouls that they are not here to eliminate them, but to give them a second chance at living side-by-side with humans. This in turn, disagrees with the CGC's "Ghoul Countermeasures Law" as the GPTF are essentially being given the permission to commit the crime of protecting ghouls, especially as the GPTF have ghoul operatives in a unit known as the Ghoul Countermeasures Unit or GCU. As such, both organizations can only be described as having a mutual hatred of each other, with their personnel having a vitriolic relationship with each other due to their differing goals and outlooks on ghouls.

"Over a thousand ghouls over the past two years...impressive! I just hope there's enough meat to keep them going," he said as he placed the paper back in the folder from where it was stored and handed it to General Shoji Kageyama, the GPTF Japan commander.

Kageyama was a former General in the JSDF. Handpicked to lead Japan's branch of the GPTF due to his experience with ghouls in the JSDF's experimental ghoul-integrated division which serves in conflict zones as peacekeeper troops. They were quite effective, although the cases of them collecting body parts from their fallen enemies to eat caused a bit of a stir. The general was dressed in a dark blue, semi-futuristic miitary uniform. He had his black hair, which was graying near the ears, in a military crew cut. Seated in front of him, was CGC Director Yoshitoki Washuu, who was dressed in his signature white suit.

"Now as for you, Director Washuu. How goes the investigation on the Aogiri Tree?" the Minister said as he handed Kageyama the folder. Yoshitoki took a deep breath before speaking.

"...So far, we only have minor leads to work on. Nothing new has come up over the past few weeks." he solemnly said.

The Minister slowly shook his head.

"You know, Washuu. Maybe the investigations regarding Aogiri and the Owl would be faster if you simply allowed yourselves to work cooperatively with the GPTF. The additional resources and manpower might-"

"I don't believe that's necessary, sir." he interrupted, shooting a look towards Kageyama, who remained indifferent to it.

"Besides. We've been at this for centuries. As much as I admire the..._efforts_ that they've done, it's best that you let the ones who have the most experience deal with matters like this." Yoshitoki said to the Minister.

"*sigh* Your decision, Washuu. Now thank you both for your reports on each of your progress. I expect even better results next time," the Minister said as he stood up with the other two.

"Director. General. Fax me the copies of your reports. I have another meeting to go to so I can't wait for the copies now. Both of you are dismissed."

The Minister, Washuu and Kageyama all walked out of the office with the Minister, who left in the opposite direction of the hallway while the other two walked to the stairs leading to the exit.

"I'm sorry, Shoji. As much as I want to ask for your help, I'm afraid the rest of my guys would object grievously to it." Yoshitoki said to the older-looking man.

"That's fine, Washuu." the general said as he arranged the folder as they walked to the exit of the building.

"I would like you to know that unlike the others, I'm willing to accept the enforcement of the laws but..."

"Yes. I know."

Yoshitoki tapped Kageyama on the shoulder.

"Thank you for understanding. I hope more ghouls wish to reform their ways and make our jobs easier for us both," he said to general as he entered a gray car with the CGC symbol on the four flags on it. Kageyama watched it leave as he entered a blue armored car with the GPTF symbol on the sides of it.


End file.
